Manuela Franco
Diplomat in residence, Abade Correia da Serra Fellow, Portuguese Institute for International
Relations, Lisbon University (IPRI-UNL), October 2005.
Positions held
Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the XV Constitutional Government,
2003/2004.
Associate Researcher, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Lisbon University, Research Project :“The
Estado Novo and the Jewish Question”. Senior partner and manager of the Companhia do
Triângulo, S.I, Lda, a consulting firm set up in Lisbon, [1991-1999]; Editor of the quarterly
"Politica Internacional" - Lisbon [1990-1991]; Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary of State for
Culture [1988-1990]; Chef de Cabinet a.i. of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and
Cooperation [1985-1987]; Diplomatic officer at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Lisbon and,
from 1981, Secretary of Embassy at the Permanent Mission of Portugal to the United Nations,
New York [1979-1985]; Teaching Assistant to the Course on International Law, Law School,
University of Lisbon [1978-1979]
Areas of Interest
Nationalism, Middle East Studies, Portuguese Foreign Policy.
EXPERIENCE
.As a diplomat Manuela Franco served in the Human Rights desk, from 1979 to 1985, and in that
capacity participated in a large number of World and international conferences, namely in the
Third Committe of the UN General Assembly and the UN Commission for Human Rights.
Between 1990 and 1999 she joined the private sector where she became a consultant for cultural
and political affairs. In this capacity she was Game Director, in the Seminar Game to analyse
Regional Governance options for Portugal, carried out in June 1998 by Luso American
Foundation for Development, with the support of RAND Europe (RAND Corporation). She
directed or managed projects such as a STUDY FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DIPLOMATIC
INSTITUTE: Design, development and implementation of the 1st formal Training Program for
Junior Diplomats at the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs, Jan-Mar 1995; the ORGANISATION OF
THE "ARRÁBIDA MEETINGS": Annual informal high level meetings on world affairs launched by
the Fundação Oriente in 1994, at the Arrábida Monastery. (Steering Committee presided by
Lord Carrington, with Ambassador J.Cutileiro); OVERHAUL OF THE PORT OF LISBON: preliminary
study to identify new social and economic uses for the area under the Jurisdiction of the Port
Authority of Lisbon, in particular the area of the city of Lisbon ", promoted by the Lisbon Port
Authority [1993];ESTUDOS GERAIS DA ARRÁBIDA-CONFERENCIAS DO CONVENTO, Drafting and
setting up the institutional, organisational and functional structure of a Summer University and
of the corresponding model of the Annual Program [1991] followed from 1992 t 1995, by annual
consultancy contracts for the design, development, implementation and follow-up of the
program for the Summer University, run yearly at the Arrábida Monastery, by the Comissão
Nacional para a Comemoração dos Descobrimentos Portugueses; CONFERENCE: "TRANSATLANTIC
SECURITY IN THE 90'S: NATO AND BEYOND", promoted by the Luso American Foundation for
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Development, the Conference was held in 1993 at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies, (CSIS), Washington, D.C. Design of the Agenda and Program, and negotiation of
arrangements with the American counterpart.
Within the purview of her current research activities, she directed and organized the exhibition
"Spared Lives: the actions of three Portuguese diplomats in World War II", promoted by the
Diplomatic Institute of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Portugal. This documentary exhibition
due to tour the USA based on the network of Portuguese Consulates, opened in Newark, NJ,
September 12/2000. In November 2000, Ms Franco was the Lecturer “Tribute to Dr. Aristides
de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese Consul credited with saving thousands of lives in World War
II, promoted by THE LEADERSHIP CIRCLE of the American Jewish Committee Washington
Chapter and the Embassy of Portugal, Washington.
Selected Publications
OS PORTUGUESES DE SALÓNICA, keynote address to the Conference "Jews in Portugal Today,
Identity, Integration or Assimilation" on the occasion of the 100 anniversary of the Lisbon
Synagogue, September 7, 2004,[to be published in the issue of Journal of the Associação
Portuguesa de Estudos Judaicos, forthcoming]; DIVERSÃO BALCÂNICA/ OS ISRAELITAS
PORTUGUESES DE SALÓNICA, in Análise Social, n.170, Spring 2004 ; Review of “The Jews of
Europe and the Black Plague” by Anna Foa, in Análise Social, nº166, Vol. XXXVIII, 2003, ICS,
Universidade de Lisboa; UMA INFLUÊNCIA PORTUGUESA NO LEVANTE? A DIPLOMACIA AO SERVIÇO
DA PROPAGANDA DO PRESTÍGIO DA REPÚBLICA, in Política Internacional, n.26, Outono/Inverno
2002; MAS NÃO HÁ PAZ, essay on the return of Jewish sovereignty to Jerusalem, in Política
Internacional, n.23, Primavera/Verão 2001; “Politics and Morals”, introduction to the Catalog
of the documentary/Exhibit “Spared Lifes: the actions of three Portuguese diplomats in World
War II ", Instituto Diplomático, MNE, Setembro 2000; "Os Judeus em Portugal, 1926-1974",
entry to the Dicionário de História de Portugal- Suplemento, Vol VIII , Drs Mª Filomena
Mónica e António Barreto, Ed. Figueirinhas, Porto,1999
Honours
Oficial da Ordem do Infante D.Henrique
Education
Law Degree, Law School, Lisbon University - 1978
Born in Lisbon, 1956. Three sons
Lived in New York (1981 to 1985), Israel (1992 to 1995) and Brussels (1995 to 1997).
Presently residing in Lisbon, Portugal
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